In my previous post blogging for beginners I explained every terms that is required before starting a brand new blog. As my previous post was bit technical so here in this guide ” blogging for dummies ” I will be explaining the basic terms as well I will also show you several tools and techniques required to start your own blog.

Blogging as a beginner is a kind of challenge for everyone therefore I wrote this blogging for dummies guide for the new comers as well as for beginners who are struggling to make a beautiful and nicely formatted blog. If you don’t have any idea about choosing a platform, domain name or any other blogging related issue then you are at perfect place because this guide will show you A-Z of blogging.

Blogging for Dummies  Guide

1. Blogging Platforms

A blogging platform is simply a content management system or a software that turns your regular site into fully functional dynamic blog. Simply, it’s a platform that helps to design an attractive website without having any technical or programming knowledge.

Blogging platforms are especially designed to add posts and pages within few clicks and they do have an easy option to import themes and plugin to tailor your website according to your need.

Now,  let’s have of quick look into the top platforms that you can you can use to get started.

In my opinion there are only two such platforms that fits the requirement of beginners as well as advance blogger the first one is blogger and second one is WordPress.

Why should I use WordPress Instead of Blogger

Blogger is a blogging platform provided by the giant company Google. It is completely free and you can start your website without spending a single penny. Although its free it is one of the most reliable platform and quite enough to publish your stuff in the web. Unfortunately the good always comes with bad. Since, Google runs the service and therefore they have enough right to shut your website down at anytime.

In case of WordPress you have to buy your own domain name and web hosting (A place where you can store your website files). With wordpress you have full control over your website. You are free to decide how long you want to run or when you want to shut it down. You own all your data, and you control what information you share with any third-party.

Free wordpress.com VS Self hosted wordpress.org Blog 

A beginner blogger might always be in dilemma while choosing between these two platforms. Which one is best? This is the question that comes in everyone’s mind. To answer this question I have mentioned some few pros of  self hosted and wordpress.com blog.

Pros of Self hosted wordpress.org

• It’s completely free and you can use your own custom domain name.
• You have full control over your files and you can upload your custom theme or plugin however in wordpress.com you have to stick to the themes and plugins that are available in wordpress respiratory .
• You can make money by adding your own ad codes.
• You can even modify your theme source code and CSS files.
• Use your own custom analytics and tracking

Cons of using Self hosted wordpress.org

• Even though wordpress is a free platform in order to start self hosted wordpress site you need a hosting and domain name and that may cost you around $4 – $7 Per month.
• Security can be a issue if you are not using a reliable hosting you site may get hacked or it may face several issues like high downtime or slow website loading.

Why I never recommend wordpress.com 

These are some of the reasons I never recommend wordpress.com to get started.

• They place ads on almost all free website and if you don’t want your users to see ads you have to pay them $29.97 per year.
• You are not allowed to sell ads on your website unless you receive 25,000 page views per month. In this case you have to apply to their feature called ad control. The approval process will not cost money however you have to share your revenue 50/50 with them.
• You are not allowed to add your own custom plugin. If you want to add you need to upgrade your membership to VIP program which starts at $3750 per month
• You cannot use custom themes therefore you need to stick to the design what your theme provides. You can upgrade your plan by paying $30 per month but it is only limited to changing colors means if you want to add your own custom paid theme then you cannot.

2. Buying a domain name and Web hosting

As domain name reflects your blog identity  consider that it should be simple and easy to remember. From the SEO prospective domain name also can be a ranking factor of your blog

Therefore, do remember that while choosing a domain name always do a keyword research and if available buy a domain name similar to the keyword that have decent traffic.

Moreover make your domain name easy to easy to remember and if needed use hyphens (-) to separate the word.

Godaddy have published a great guide to choose domain name.

Choosing a hosting accountt

At the initial stage of blogging you don’t have to buy a VPS or any other kind of dedicated server. A shared hosting is  good enough to handle your blog. But while choosing a hosting account consider its downtime, support, WordPress compatibility.

Do not buy a hosting account if its cheap because quality always comes with price. I have seen many hosting where you can buy hosting account just for $1 but they do not support latest version of PHP and MySQL and you have to stick with the old version of WordPress or any other CMS.

3. Writing Unique and High Quality Contents

Any serious blogger who want to make carrier should never copy others contents otherwise you will end up with a failed blogging carrier.

Read my failed blogging journey during my initial stage.

While writing a content think about its possibility and write a compelling content so that others can ultimately link to it or share to their social media profile. Keep in mind that you are not the boss of your blog your contents is the king to determine your future in blogging.

If you want a guide here Neil Patel has shared his secret to write high quality content.

4. Optimizing Your Blog for Search Engines

Content is the king for you blog and Search Engine Optimization is kind of backbone. No matter how effective your blog post is what if no one reads it? This is the reason why you should focus on SEO.

Whenever you write a content remember to do a keyword research, optimize your meta description and titles so that search engines bots can easily find out what your content is about.

If you don’t have any idea about search engine optimization read a complete SEO tips and tricks for beginners guide

5. Sharing Your contents on Social Media

You will never receive a visitor from search engine for few days of starting your blog. The magic of social media works here. Start your social media profile from the day 1 and invite your friends to like your page. Share your contents in your social media because its better to get single visit rather than getting none.

6. Earning From Your Blog

The is the final step of your hardwork. After writing few blog posts you can apply for several advertising programs like google adsense, infolinks or chitika. You can even promote affiliate products by writing a review post or just by putting a banner.

Learn more about affiliate marketing  here in affiliate marketing for dummies guide.

My Final Words

I think  I have covered almost every part for beginners in this blogging for dummies guide. So, guys if you think you have any suggestion regarding this post then please leave your feedback below in the comment.